Any info on American Eagle Incident at LGA?

[Longhorn]

We were holding short of 31 at lga when an Eagle checked on and was asked to follow the jetBlue for 31. He was told that he was number 4 for the runway. He then said that he did not have the fuel to follow the jetblue in the pattern. Controller asked if he was declairing an emergency and he said yes. 2 or three go arounds and eagle directly to the runway. For the life of me I cant think of how you could get to not having enough fuel to continue in the pattern. Below is the ATC tapes of the incident. It happened at LGA tower freq. If you listen to the 1330-1400 tapes its just before the halfway point. The tape starts with 898 going around and vectored back to the airport. There was a NWA holding short, we were the jetblue second and eagle 898 checking on behind another jb in the pattern, that is where it starts. Any ideas or thought. It was discussed on the way to FLL and brought up again the next day in NY.
http://www.liveatc.net/.archive/klga/KLGA-May-20-06-1330.mp3 tape link

http://www.liveatc.net/listen.php another link, select LISTEN in green.

like I said, a little before the 1/2 way point on the audio

 

[spacecadet1]

Maybe they just wanted to see jetblue go-around?

 

[Longhorn]

LOL...Good response, Funny thing is that the expressway visual does not have a missed, so when they made the 2 planes go around, everyone was in a free for all..it was nuts.

 

[Floatplane]

Most of the times I have gone around the tower has issued missed approach instructions. It is rare to actually fly the published missed instructions unless you are in non-radar enviroment or IMC and the tower is too busy to issue other instructions. I highly doubt that the LGA tower does not issue missed instructions when they direct an aircraft to go around on a visual approach!

 

[Longhorn]

I agree, they always do. It was just odd to watch because the controller was dealing with Eagle declairing an emergency, getting the guy on short final to go around, telling the other jetblue to go arounda and then dealing with clearing the eagle back to the runway. Yes, they did give them heading and alt instructions but for a few minutes it was a free for all. Planes scattering everywhere. It was actually interesting to watch. As for LGA, I have been in there more times than I can count..great place to watch things take place.

 

[ultrarunner]

For the life of me I cant think of how you could get to not having enough fuel to continue in the pattern.

That's an easy one. They were tight on fuel to begin with before their go-around.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

It's reasonable to assume that they could have followed the preceding aircraft and landed safely without causing multiple go-arounds ahead of them. They may have encountered some enroute delays (weather/winds/heavy/etc.) and the first go-around put them a little behind the curve. The captain probably used prudent judgment and felt that any additional vectoring/extended patterns or perhaps another go-around could make things pretty interesting and so made a good call on declaring.

 

[Longhorn]

So, 1 go around and now they dont have enough fuel to follow another aircraft in the pattern? I know it happens but that to me is cutting it way to tight. If you have to go around you think you would still have at least 45 min left unless they were holding. We came in from Florida and the weather was great and not much traffic on a saterday morning. I agree, tight on fuel to begin with but that just seemed WAY TOO TIGHT. Ok, thanks guys for the responses. I was not trying to flame eagle or make any poor comments, just bring up a situation that I found very interesting.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Your post doesn't come across as bashing Eagle. I thought it was intertsting to listen to what transpired. It does seem unusual to declare fairly close to the airport. I cant imagine that the go-arounds brought him in much quicker...aren't we talking only about a few minutes sooner?

 

[Longhorn]

Exactly, if he was that short on fuel, why no min fuel call with priority to the airport. Seems like if you were that low on fuel you would have declared an emergency much earlier, not on downwind with not enough fuel to continue begind traffic.

 

[Crossky]

Any ideas or thought.

That's easy, had to be a CA not afraid to get into trouble, trying to make his commute home.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

That's easy, had to be a CA not afraid to get into trouble, trying to make his commute home.

If this were actually the real reason, (and have soem of you guys ever done this?!) isn't it a big hassle with paperwork with your company and the FAA. Wouldn't it actually delay his commute as he needs to inform individuals and fill out paperwork when he gets down?